Small finds and fresh air

Small finds.... 

My middle child, 

She  who lives for sweets and has eyes like a magpie- 

  she who is clever at finding small hidden treasures,

 she who will soon be five is now up to new silent past times, 

little creations that I have been stumbling upon in my efforts to 'put the house back in order' 

(my first month of full time teaching has knocked my socks off and the house is hidden in layers of laundry and toys). I have been coming across small neatly made displays, small towers decorated with coins, flowers and left over ribbons, small boxes within boxes with tiny rings, a feather or two and special rocks neatly lined up with care...

 I have come across these under the desk, under the stairs, under her bed, under her sisters bed, next to where the cat sleeps, next to the stack of boots...and who knows where else I will find them, she never announces them to us (the way our oldest son does when he has made anything). 

I am loving these little discoveries. Here are two I took photos of today.

My stone (feather, marble, flower) collector

Fresh air - because it is mid term holidays here, 

which means three days off this week 

 I am very relieved to have this small break, to clean, to bake, to hang out with the kids and play dominos and not least to catch some sunshine in the nearby forest. 

(I even managed to read a few pages of the Sunday paper!) 

Bliss.

Happy Friday

to one and all..

Dash assisting T in rescuing a paper airplane

wooiee there is nothing like hot weather and trying to do a few errands with three kids in tow... some moments are fine, even nice, and fulfilling in that parental sort of way, kids singing and skipping down shady alleys. Tanned legs cheerly making their way past beaming stooped over grannies sweeping doorsteps and past crowds of old men standing or sitting in the shady part of the piazza  drinking small glasses of sweet tea.

Then come the testing grating on your nerves moments when not shouting takes every bit of strength you have, like when you have gone to the bank and your 6 yr old boy scoots up very close in order to get a very good view to the random lady trying to get money out of atm machine in front of us, at the same moment curly topped older girl child teases your younger girl child in stroller -within seconds come a few high pitch screams and the loud sound of the  aluminium water bottle clanging onto the stone floor,  ..it rolls, knocks past to older already annoyed  people waiting in the hot sun and on into the street and traffic - just at the moment you are trying to explain to said 6 yr old - please give the lady some space... atm machines are a time for PRIVACY (for lack of a better word)(privacy a relatively newly introduced term in the house). This slightly chaotic moment is then topped off with curly topped middle child (who is obsessed with finding coins)  screams she has found a MONEY!!!! Younger child (aka destructo) demands A MONEY TOO!!!! I NEED A MONEY!!!!

Moving right along that was peanuts next to the crowded hard ware store experience.... waiting in line, having various small hands belonging to my wee tribe nearly tipping over huge rolled up hoses, black shade material, aluminium trash cans neatly stacked up as I wait in the short but sloooowwww line (and get skipped by a stocky old lady) what can I do?! Arguing in Maltese is not my strong suit. Finally when it is my turn, I try to explain what I mean by a glue gun. Meanwhile boy child insists I ask them for sparklers.. first time I ignored his interrupted question but upon the fifth repeat I finally excuse the child, tell him off quietly and then start trying to explain what a sparkler is in sign language.. with two old men behind the worn out dusty counter looking very very confused... cake candles is what they eventually handed to me... so yes, coming home, out of the sun, is heaven sent.. time for  huge juicy peach and banana smoothies..(the peaches in Malta are absolutely delicious right now) what else can cure frayed nerves right?
I won't bore you with the next thing asked for (aside from painting all the windows with random paintbrushes and muddy water and setting the kittten up in his own boat... in the kiddy pool). Actually (  I only just narrowly rescued the poor little guy from his sea fairing  adventure .. much to the extreme dismay of child 1,2 and 3). Its not even lunch time. Sometimes half a day with the 'tribe' is like one bumpy and uphill treck.... some nice sights and sounds, loving lovely moments but there is no way around the fact that it takes heaps of energy and patience.

For sanity I find a run down to this bay as the sun comes up helps me keep my cool, in moments of being pulled (sometimes literally) in three or four directions. 

Wee little gift I made this week for a friend thinking of making another for the shop...

Meet Mims

After seeing how happy little D has been with her soft monkey toy (posted earlier about), I decided to make a soft toy for a friends daughter who just had her second birthday. Mims is 20 inches long and made of cotton. I made up the pattern and am now thinking I would like to try sewing a few more, and some little clothes.

She may well be off to the mountains soon.

Backpacks and library cards

Immersed in Constructivist theory and ECDL ( a computer literacy kind of course) one i have to take unfortunately... these timed exams are a wee bit stressful. Found myself up on Saturday night at 3 Am (only time to study in peace in the house is in the middle of the night)- going over mail merge- how sad is that! Feel well acquainted again now with Microsoft word, Access and tomorrow it's power point- things have changed a bit since I was last computer savvy- feel like an old fuddy duddy at moments among some of my younger classmates.

My son seems to have turned a corner- really a little boy now- bony and paying attention to every detail... today for the first time ever he looked at me ( I was telling him why we must all wash our hair) and said "I think your lying to me mama"  and yes I may have been exaggerating the truth as regards bugs liking to live in dirty  hair but it really struck me. My littlest child is now walking, seems so surreal that only a year ago now I was waddling around Winchester feeling as big as a whale and wondering just when she would finally decide to come. and the middle child .. spicy as ever.. I dread the teenage years .. what a confident attitude she has..... where on earth did it come from?! 

Apart from lectures all day long,  every day the week has been highlighted by some wonderful dish my husband has cooked up and today (after having it rattling around in my brain for weeks) I ounce again made ice cream- this time a Moorish mix-cardamon with dates and walnuts.... really came out well.  Very creamy and well balanced -was pure luck- better write down the amounts I used quickly before I forget them. 

Other ponderings of the week   

- why is it so many students at the University here are carrying fancy leather purses and wearing high heels???!! Such a far cry from the back pack slugging bike riding university days I remember. 

- An interesting little thing suggested by a lecturer of mine - worth it's 8 min. 

Did you know 2. 0.

- Have been catching up on the ole podcasts (what with the traffic jams every morning) 

Radio 4 global news, NPR News and Notes and Radio 4 Friday Night Comedy ... 

- Malta has an 'Indian summer' well into October- it's around 25 here during the days lately.